Making the Rounds With South Dakota’s Governor, a Former Insurance Agent

Michael Rounds

Michael Rounds was having trouble sleeping at night. An insurance agent by trade and a politician by passion, he had told close friends and associates that he would not run for the governorship of South Dakota. It was 2001, a year after Rounds’ term in the state Senate —where he served as Republican majority leader—was limited by law and a year before the Republican primary for governor.

After examining the situation, Rounds—a partner in the Fischer-Rounds & Associates Inc. agency in Pierre, S.D.—concluded he couldn’t compete against the two much better-funded candidates in the Republican primary. But his gut concluded otherwise, to judge from the stomach churning Rounds told Insurance Journal he suffered from the weekend after he’d made his decision. He tossed and turned in bed at night until his wife finally told him, as much out of annoyance as support, that he had to go with his gut and run for governor.

On a shoestring budget and without wide name recognition outside the small town of Pierre (population: fewer than 15,000), Rounds threw his hat into the ring. He went on to win the primary and the governorship. As governor, he has taken steps to modernize the state’s insurance marketplace and hopes to use the insurance industry as an engine to help drive the state’s economic revitalization.

Always interested in politics

While many agents are more than happy to leave politics to the paid lobbyists in their state and national associations, Rounds told IJ he was passionate about politics and public policy from an early age.

“My interest in politics goes back to college. I had a B.S. in political science at South Dakota State,” he said. “One of the things my partner and I discussed when I first joined the agency back in ’82 was my political goals. I ran for the Senate in 1990 and I served in the legislature for 10 years. We’ve never found a better process anywhere in the world.”

Larry Ahrendt, executive vice president of the South Dakota Association of Insurance Agents and an old friend of Rounds’, said he often had discussions with Rounds about politics, going as far back as the early 1980s.

“He always expressed an interest in public service,” Ahrendt told IJ. “On more than one occasion we talked about things that were going on politically. It’s natural extension for him from the type of work he was doing in the agency. The truly dedicated insurance professional sees himself as a service person … providing for the needs of his customer. And I think with Michael it extended beyond that workday and extended into other areas.

Though Rounds’ decision to run for governor didn’t come as a surprise to Fischer-Rounds President Karl Fischer, the 68-year-old majority shareholder told IJ he was not exactly thrilled about it, considering that Rounds is tapped to succeed Fischer as president to perpetuate the 124-year-old agency. The South Dakota Legislature only meets 35 to 40 days a year, so even Rounds’ role as Senate majority leader was not a full-time job. From 1990 until 2000, Rounds continued to do his part in running the agency and producing business, Fischer said.

On a Friday in early 2001, Rounds told Fischer he’d elected not to run for office. After a restless weekend, however, Rounds had a different story.

“You know, Karl,” Fischer recalled Rounds saying, “I can’t sleep at night. I’ve been thinking about this, and I’ve decided to run for governor.”

“Michael,” Fischer told the future governor, “now you’ve made it so I can’t sleep at night.”

Editor’s note: To read the rest of this story, see the May 17 print edition of Insurance Journal Midwest, which covers Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas.

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